Education
Columbia University; Colgate University.
Columbia University; Colgate University.
He was a journalist at the Buffalo Courier-Express in (Buffalo, New York) in 1974–1978 and bureau chief in 1976–1978. He was a staff writer at the Providence Journal-Bulletin (Providence, Rhode Island) 1979–1981. He joined The Los Angeles Times as a financial writer 1981–1983, and was its financial correspondent in New York City 1982–1988, Nairobi bureau chief 1988–1993, Moscow correspondent 1993–1994.
He was a financial staff writer, editor, and columnist at the Times 1994–2006.
More recently, he began writing a column about business and economic issues in the United States West Coast. In 1996 he was a finalist for two Pulitzer Prizes, for his reporting on health care issues in California and his reporting on a major entertainment merger between Disney and American Broadcasting Company. Mark Saylor, then entertainment editor of the business section of the paper, said it was especially rewarding because it recognized "aggressive reporting on the hometown industry. where The Los Angeles Times has long labored under a cloud, the misperception that... were soft on the entertainment industry".
The series led to the removal of C. Michael Green, then Grammy chief In 2006, Hiltzik was suspended without pay from the Los Angeles Times for sockpuppeting on his blog "The Golden State".
Hiltzik admitted to posting under false names on multiple sites, using the pseudonym "Mikekoshi" to criticize Hugh Hewitt and Los Angeles prosecutor Patrick Frey. In December 2009, the Los Angeles Times announced that Hiltzik would be returning to the paper as a business columnist.
In 1999, he won a beat reporting Pulitzer Prize for co-writing an article about corruption in the music industry. In 2004, he won a Gerald Loeb Award for Distinguished Business and Financial Journalism. He won Silver Gavel award from the American Bar Association and the Overseas Press Club cited his reporting on East African issues. Along with Times staff writer Chuck Philips, Hiltzik won the 1999 Pulitzer Prize for the articles they wrote on corruption and bribes in the music industry. The year-long series exposed corruption in the music business in three different areas: The Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences raised money for an ostensible charity that netted only pennies on the dollar for its charity. Radio station "payola," for airplay of new recordings. And the proliferation of exploitive and poorly conceived medical detox programs for celebrities. In 2004, Hiltzik won a Gerald Loeb Award for his contributions to financial journalism.
